ONWARD TO GPL 2.5

ONWARD TO GPL 2.5

We’ve had another lively month in the debate between the Linux kernel developers, led by Linus Torvalds, and the Free Software Foundation (FSF), led by Richard Stallman,

on the proposed changes to the Gnu Public License (GPL). Some prominent kernel developers put out a position paper asking the FSF to “…abandon the current GPLv3 process before it becomes too late.” Linus did not sign the paper, although his objections to GPLv3 are well known. The FSF then posted their own paper, which they said would clarify “recent misleading information.” The discussion boils down to provisions regarding patents and digital rights management (DRM). But every time I hear about this debate, I am taken back to a presentation by FSF attorney Eben Moglen at the 2005 San Fransisco LinuxWorld. The talk was just prior to the start of the approval process. The purpose of his talk was to define the approval process and the timetable; the details of the first GPLv3 draft were not known publicly at the time.

Few have had a closer view of the Free Software revolution than Eben Moglen, former lead counsel for the Free Software Foundation and founder of the Software Freedom Law Center. We asked Moglen about the legal basis for the GPL's famous copyleft protection and the long, steady effort to tell the world about the benefits of free software.